Huang, Yu, known as Xiaohou (courtesy name) and Shiru (pseudonym), was an imperial scholar of Qing dynasty and served as a junior vice-president of the Board of Punishment during the era of Emperor Tongzhi (1856-1875). Huang excelled at landscape painting. He is renowned for his seal-script and standard-script calligraphy.

These paragraphs are excerpted from Sun’s (Chengze Sun, 1592-1676) book, “Summer Reflections on Paintings and Calligraphy Pieces”. The central figure described in the scroll is Mengjian Zhao (1199-1295). Zhao, also known as Yizhaijushi, is a renowned artist in Southern Song (1127-1279) specializing in painting narcissus.